THE future of cremations at the city’s Astwood Cemetery is to be investigated by council bosses.

Worcester City Council is weighing up its options for the 170-plus-year-old Astwood Cemetery with the ability to carry out cremations at the site in the balance.

Bosses are contending with a mix of ageing furnaces that need to be replaced, falling demand for burial and cremations and dwindling space.

The council is looking to spend £100,000 on a new study into the city’s crematorium so it can decide whether the facilities should be improved or replaced and stay at Astwood Cemetery or even moved completely to a new site.

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The council admits a new crematorium would come at a “significant” cost and it would be cheaper to stay at a replaced or improved Astwood Cemetery.

The city council’s environment committee meets in the Guildhall on March 14 to discuss the study which officers said would give the council the chance to “fully understand its options.”

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The council facilitates around 1,700 cremations and 100 burials each year at Astwood and St John’s.

There is a growing need to improve the facilities but the number of burials and cremations has dropped in the last decade – thanks in part to the opening of a new crematorium in Fladbury.

Previously it was the only facility in south Worcestershire – meaning the council has less money than usual for the much-needed work.

St John’s Cemetery is expected to be full in the next three years and the council believes Astwood Cemetery only has enough space for the next ten to 15 years.

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By law, the city council is responsible for maintaining and improving existing crematoriums as well as looking after burial records but is not necessarily obliged to replace Astwood Crematorium or build a new facility elsewhere.

The council also faces the challenge of needing to replace ageing furnaces – which have already exceeded their predicted 25-year life span.

It believes they will need to be replaced by 2027 at the latest.

Astwood’s 26-year-old furnaces can now only be repaired by one company and are looked after by a single engineer who is approaching retirement.

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Emerging government guidance is also likely to force all crematoriums to be fitted with protection against toxins such as mercury that are emitted from incinerators during cremations.

The city council has been paying around £30,000 to Cardiff Council for years as part of a ‘burden-sharing’ scheme because it has been unable to meet the target of ensuring mercury is removed and cleaned up after more than half of its cremations.

The money goes to Cardiff, as an authority that manages to abate more than its share, as a reward – or fine depending on how you look at it – paid for by Worcester as part of a ‘trade’ for not meeting its targets.

The council looked into installing mercury filters in 2018 but ruled out the plan at the time because there was not enough space and the cost was “prohibitive.”